This application claims priority to an application entitled xe2x80x9cPortable Telephone with an Exchangeable Data Input Apparatusxe2x80x9d filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on Mar. 19, 2001 and assigned Serial No. 2001-13979, and an application entitled xe2x80x9cPortable Telephone with an Exchangeable Data Input Apparatusxe2x80x9d filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on Mar. 5, 2002 and assigned Serial No. 2002-11512, the contents of both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a portable telephone with an exchangeable data input apparatus also used as a cradle, and in particular, to a portable telephone with an exchangeable data input apparatus with two housings unfoldable against each other in the form of wings.
2. Description of the Related Art
A portable telephone such as a commonly used cellular phone provides radio communication services to a user through radio communications with a base station. Portable telephones are divided into bar-type portable telephones, flip-type portable telephones, and folder-type portable telephones according to their appearances. Also, portable telephones are classified as neck wearable type portable telephones and wrist type portable telephones according to wearing positions. Portable telephones may also be classified according to functions such as audio communication, video communication, and Internet communication. Portable telephones are additionally used for games or Music Player 3 (MP3).
Currently, the bar-type telephone, the flip-type telephone, and the folder-type telephones are most commonly used due to their portability. However, it is expected that in the near future a portable telephone adopting various wearing methods and a portable telephone cans receive various services with more functions will be mainly used in order to secure convenience of wearing and to cope with various multimedia environments.
Herein below, reference will be made to a commonly used folder-type telephone, as an example, in order to schematically explain the structure of a portable telephone. A conventional folder-type telephone includes a main housing, a folder, and a hinge means for connecting the main housing to the folder to thus fold the folder toward the main housing and to unfold the folder away from the main housing. A data input means such as a keypad can be positioned in the main housing and a data output means such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) can be positioned in the folder. To the contrary, the data output means can also be positioned in the main housing and the data input means can be positioned in the folder. Also, a microphone (or a mouthpiece) can be positioned in the main housing and a speaker (or earpiece) can be positioned in the folder. It is possible to secure enough distance between an ear and the mouth of a user when the user makes a portable telephone call because the microphone and the speaker are mounted in this manner.
As stated above, a common keypad with a plurality of keys is used as a typical data input means of the portable telephone, in particular, of the portable cellular telephone. A liquid crystal display (LCD) is used as the data output means. A touch screen or a touch pad may also be used as the data input means. In the cellular telephone, elements such as the data input and output means, the earpiece and the mouthpiece are integrated into one body for miniaturization and lightness.
Current portable telephones tend to be lighter and smaller than older portable phones. When the main body of the portable telephone is miniaturized, the LCD and the keypad must also be miniaturized. When the LCD is miniaturized, it is not easy for the user to read displayed data. When the keypad is miniaturized, it is not easy to input data. The miniaturization of the portable telephone is restricted due to the above-mentioned technical problems. Also, it is difficult to maintain the larger sizes of the LCD and the keypad while miniaturizing the portable telephone.
Currently, in many cases, the user must input complex data for Internet communications and e-mail transmission. Accordingly, a portable telephone designed for convenient Internet communication and e-mail transmission is necessary.
The conventional portable telephone has limitations in supporting various functions used in the multimedia environment. For example, when a user plays games with the conventional portable telephone, function keys required for the games are repeatedly used in the conventional keypad. Therefore, the eyes and the fingers of the user become tired.
Further, in the conventional portable telephone, the sizes of the keys are too small to perform various functions when the size of the main body of the portable telephone is minimized. Accordingly, it is inconvenient for the user to use the conventional portable telephone.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a portable telephone with an unfolding data input apparatus in the form of wings.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a portable telephone with keypad housings that are exchangeable and designed according to functions such as games, chatting, and MP3.
It is further another object of the present invention to provide a portable telephone with keypad housings that can be simultaneously unfolded away from each other.
To achieve the above and other objects, a portable telephone is provided, comprising a bar-type main housing; a holding housing having first and second hinges positioned to face each other, to be protrusive, and to be symmetrical with each other, and a sliding surface with a predetermined radius of curvature to be separated from the first and second hinges and attached to and detached from the main housing; and an exchangeable housing having bar-type first and second rotational sub housings, each one side connected to the first and second hinges so that the first and second rotational sub housings are hidden in the main housing when they are rotated to be close to each other (folded in) and are in the form of wings protruding from both sides of the main housing when they are rotated away from each other (unfolded).